Obama may bypass Congress on monuments

(LATIMES) — Interior Secretary Sally Jewell says she will recommend that President Obama act alone if necessary to create new national monuments and sidestep a gridlocked Congress that has failed to address dozens of public lands bills.

Jewell said the logjam on Capitol Hill has created a conservation backlog, and she warned that the Obama administration would not “hold its breath forever” waiting for lawmakers to act.

“The president will not hesitate,” Jewell said in an interview in San Francisco last week. “I can tell you that there are places that are ripe for setting aside, with a tremendous groundswell of public support.”